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Job 35 · a question people ask

Elihu says Job "multiplies words without knowledge" (35:16). Is he right?

In the text

These are Elihu's words: "therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge" (35:16). The book names Elihu only in 32:2, 32:4, 32:5, 32:6, 34:1, 35:1 and 36:1: not anywhere after 36:1, and not in 42:7-9, where the LORD speaks to Eliphaz of "your two friends" (42:7). Elihu had said the same of Job in his last speech: "Job speaks without knowledge" (34:35). These notes say what Elihu says and add no verdict on his speeches, for them or against them.

The verses

“therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.””
Job 35:16 · World English Bible
“Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God. Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled. Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old. Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion.”
Job 32:2-6 · World English Bible
“Moreover Elihu answered,”
Job 34:1 · World English Bible
“Moreover Elihu answered,”
Job 35:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 35

Job 35: Songs in the night

Elihu's "There they cry, but no one answers" (35:12) has, in Hebrew, the verbs of Job's own "I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard" (19:7), and his "what effect do you have against him?" (35:6) begins with the same two Hebrew words as Zophar's "What can you do?" (11:8).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions